The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for driving multiple external front-end modules (eFEM) using a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC).
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
RFICs have a number of RF chains each used to drive a respective RF chain in respective eFEMs. However, the number of RF chains that the RFIC is able to drive may limit a number of eFEMs that may be included in an electronic device that has the RFIC. In other words, the number of additional eFEMs may be limited by the number of available RF chains in the RFIC, and adding more RFICs may be impossible and/or impractical due to size limits in the electronic device. In addition, the routing path of each RF chain from RFIC to eFEM can be challenging given the space constraints in an electronic device, and routing each path can complicate a printed circuit board (PCB) layout of the electronic device.